OFWs can get pesos for Lebanese money

Returning Filipino workers from war-torn Lebanon can now exchange their Lebanese bank notes for pesos.

The Monetary Board (MB) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved the opening of a currency exchange facility (CEF) to allow Filipino workers from Lebanon to convert their Lebanese currency.

"The establishment of the said facility is in line with government efforts to assist OFWs who were displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah conflict," BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said yesterday.

Under the CEF, each OFW returning from Lebanon will be allowed to exchange up to a maximum of 300,000 Lebanese livres — the equivalent of about $200 or P10,000 — at the BSP or with authorized agent banks (AABs).

Returning OFWs will have to show their passport or other documents signed by the Philippine embassy in Beirut as proof of their travel from Lebanon.

The travel documents should indicate the date of the OFW’s arrival in the Philippines.

Under the Monetary Board guidelines, OFWs have seven banking days from the date of their arrival or from the date of the issuance of the BSP memorandum to convert their Lebanese bank notes with the BSP’s cash department in Manila, its regional branch offices, as well as with authorized agent banks.

The exact date of implementation of this issuance will be announced shortly.

The BSP will determine the exchange rate in relation with the Lebanese livres under the CEF.

Tetangco said the rate will be posted daily in the BSP Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin.

Authorized banks, particularly those with branch offices at the airports, may extend banking hours if needed to service currency conversion requirements of returning OFWs.

The CEF was first created during similar emergency situations in the Middle East. The first facility was launched in 1990s during the Kuwait-Iraq war and the second in 2003 during the US-Iraq conflict.

Access to the CEF is exclusive to returning OFWs who were given a limited period within which to exchange the acceptable currencies for pesos and for a limited or prescribed amount.